Perplexing Drum Map Manager Output Port Data Issue (RESOLVED)

[Robert Bone]

UPDATE - Resolved, by correcting the Output Port data - from Microsoft Wavetable, to the proper instance of Kontakt, then saving the corrected drum map.

I discovered that CbB Drum Map Manager had changed all Output Port assignments from the specified Kontakt instance, to the Microsoft Wavetable.  I have zero ideas why, at the moment. 

I updated those assignments back to the Kontakt instance, and resaved the drum map, and all is well.  I will try to dig into this some more, and open a support ticket, when time permits.

Bob Bone

 

Howdy - I have been a user of NI Komplete, and Kontakt, for many many years, and am suddenly experiencing a perplexing issue, with a 1 second lag in hearing audio from triggering notes on any of my MIDI controllers, using the Studio Drummer library, in a separate Kontakt instance, where I have a single one of the Studio Drummer factory instruments loaded into the Kontakt instance.

1) This project has 3 Kontakt instances, with one instance for a New York Grand Piano instrument, the 2nd instance having a Kontakt Factory Library string ensemble instrument, and the 3rd Kontakt instance having a single Studio Drummer Library instrument loaded into this Kontakt instance.

2) I have no detectable lag when using my MIDI controllers to trigger notes for either the 1st or 2nd Kontakt instances, and if I use the 3rd Kontakt instance's virtual keyboard to trigger any of the Studio Drummer kit pieces, using my mouse, there is also no detectable lag.   It is only this 3rd Kontakt instance, with the Studio Drummer instrument, that I get a lag of around 1 second, when I use either of my two MIDI controllers to trigger drum kit pieces for the 3rd Kontakt instance.  This makes ZERO sense, as to what could be causing this issue.

3) My computer specs are:

     Dell Alienware 17 R5 laptop

     16GB of memory

      Two 2TB M.2 NVME hard drives, and a 3rd hard drive that is a 2TB solid-state drive.

       Intel i7 CPU

4)  My ASIO Buffer Size is set to 128 samples, for my audio interface, which happens to be my Behringer XR-18 digital mixer, using a USB connection to the laptop.

5) The Studio Drummer Library resides on one of the NVME hard drives, which is where all of my sample libraries are stored.  This NVME drive has no other files/folders on it, other than sample libraries from Native Instruments Komplete 12 Ultimate.

6)  I am using a drum map for this Studio Drummer instrument, in a Track Template I have used for around 4 years now, with no prior issues.  The instrument is routing each kit piece to its own audio track(s), with most of the tracks being mono, and the snare (stereo - top mono and bottom mono), and prior to yesterday, everything has worked with no issues, including no problems with lag.

I have done some searching, using Google and in this forum, for anyone else having this kind of issue, with no seccess in finding this issue reported anywhere.

I am all ears for any suggestions as to what I can do to resolve this issue.  I will be continuing to dig into it, to try to figure it out, and if I come up with anything to fix this, I will update this thread, to avoid anyone needlessly investing time into helping on a problem that is resolved.  In about 2 cups of coffee, I will try running the stand-alone version of Kontakt, outside of CbB, to see if the issue exists within Kontakt itself.  I will also try starting a new CbB project, with only one Kontakt instance, with the Studio Drummer instrument loaded, starting with only 1 stereo audio track, and of course a MIDI track, so as not to use a drum map, and to be as plain a project as possible, so as to just test triggering notes from my MIDI controllers.  If that is successful in resolving the lag, I will then try starting a new project with only the tracks and single Kontakt instance of the Studio Drummer instrument - using the Project Template I had built with the drum map and the separate audio outputs and multiple audio tracks - but nothing else in the project, and again test triggering notes from my MIDI controllers.  I will also test the above using a VST3 Kontakt instance, and again with a VST2 instance, in case that has anything to do with the issues.

A very sad Bob Bone - who is trying to record a brand new song.

[Robert Bone]

UPDATE - here is the details on the resolution:

I found the following, from a thread from a couple years ago, in two posts in the thread, from Scook.  Altering the Output Ports to the correct Kontakt instance, from what CbB had changed to Microsoft Wavetable, and saving the drum map, worked like a charm.

I also recreated both the Project Template with the Track Template, from the corrected drum map, and now those both work just fine now, as well.

If I know a new project will have drums, chances are I will be using a project template that has everything already set up with all the audio tracks, Kontakt instance, or AD2, all the buses, and each audio track properly gain staged to -18 dBfs, so whether the drum sounds are coming from AD2 or Kontakt, that instance will always be the very first synth in the synth rack, so it should then never get its drum map Output Port data changed, because all additional synths will be loaded below that first AD2 or Kontakt instance.

SO, I think I am all good now, although it is 2:48 in the wee hours, so no guarantee that I am not dreaming all of this.

Here is the info from the old thread, with Scook's posted replies to similar drum map Output Port issues:

"The Out Port assignments of a drum map are set using the existing output routing for the MIDI track. If there is no routing, the DAW makes the assignment, if possible, to insure the data does somewhere. The same thing happens if a routing becomes invalid (ex. the synth in the Out Port assignments is deleted). 

Fortunately, should the assignment need changing, it can be done with a few keystrokes

SHIFT+select the range of mappings to change
CTRL+SHIFT+click the drop down to reassign the selected ports
Or, after adding the new synth

delete the old drum map,
make sure the track is routed to the new synth then
add a new drum map.

It does not matter if adding a track template or adding the drum map to an existing project or project template. The Out Port assignments are all made following the same rule.

Out Ports in a drum map are dynamically assigned to the track based on the MIDI output it is replacing.

If there is no prior MIDI output assignment or the Out Port assignments become invalid, the DAW adjusts them so that the data has somewhere to go.

IOW, the design requires a valid Out Port assignment, if possible, in drum maps used by a project.

This is similar to the dynamic assignment of Omni when input echo is enabled on tracks that have no input assignment."

Bob Bone